An iCard, a stuffed squirrel and a dried ear of corn from the Morrow Plots are some of the ideas submitted by alumni, students and faculty on what symbolic items should be placed in the Lincoln Hall time capsule, which will be installed at the Lincoln Hall Open House during Homecoming 2012.

Other latest submissions include football ticket stubs, school spirit t-shirts, a Scantron test, an aerial shot of the campus and a printout of the list of time capsule ideas submitted.

The time capsule, which will most likely be made out of stainless steel, will be inside one of the two piers that align steps on the Quad side of Lincoln Hall. It will be placed in a spot where it is easy to remove limestone, slide in the time capsule, and seal it up, said Holly Korab, senior director of communications and marketing.

It is up to future generations to decide when to open the time capsule. Korab said 50 years seems reasonable, or they could even wait 100 years.

The time capsule project has been an opportunity to get people involved and interested in the Lincoln Hall reopening, said Dave Evensen, project spokesman and communications specialist in LAS.

Sruthy Koottala, freshman in DGS, recommended putting a yearbook with notes and advice, or menus from Green Street into the time capsule.

Sindhu Gudala, freshman in Engineering, suggested putting in magazines, quote books and brochures regarding RSOs and events happening on campus.

“It’s just like everyday stuff that we see and lets us know what’s going on. In the future, it would be interesting to see what was happening back in the day,” Gudala said.

The inspiration to install a time capsule arose from multiple projects that were ongoing during the Lincoln Hall renovation process, which began in Spring 2010.

One project is the Storyography project, where people can share their most memorable University experiences through any kind of medium, such as through text, video, audio or photo.

The time capsule idea also came from the actual renovation process of Lincoln Hall. When the contractors were working on the building, they found a lot of old items inside the walls and other areas of Lincoln Hall, Korab said. These included pop bottles, old pieces of equipment, a purse, letters, maps and magazines, which have been posted on the LAS website.

“We had so much fun looking at those and trying to guess, how did these get there? What do these mean? The pop bottles were from manufactures we had never heard of before. So that also made us start thinking about doing something like the time capsule,” Korab said.

Another source of inspiration came from the cornerstone box, which is similar to a time capsule, that was installed in Lincoln Hall on Aug. 10, 1910, during its original construction.

While the current time capsule will be accessible and hopefully reopened in the future, the cornerstone box cannot be removed without compromising the structural integrity of the building. However, a cornerstone box is not meant to be accessible before the building comes down, and so that is why it cannot be accessed, Evensen said.

The College of LAS has a list of items they believe are inside the cornerstone box. Some of the items include University catalogs, a University map, a photograph of proposed campus plan, the Commencement Address, an Illinois Magazine, various pamphlets and views of all the buildings on campus.

The cornerstone laying was a quiet, simple ceremony without a set program or formal address so they could continue working on the building to be completed on time, Evensen said.

The current time capsule will be installed at the Lincoln Hall Open House on October 27, 2012, by the winner of the idea submission contest, which will be determined by the votes of students, alumni and faculty.

There is no limit to the number of submissions people can send in by the submission deadline of May 21, 2012, but there are some limitations on the potential items to put in the time capsule.

The maximum size of the time capsule is 2 feet by 3 feet, Korab said. It is recommended not to include paper because it could degrade easily. Items also should not be a form of media since they may be unusable when the time capsule is reopened, Korab said.

While it is a way to get students involved in the Lincoln Hall reopening, the time capsule is also important because it is a way to preserve campus history, Evensen said.

“Like anything in history, knowing more about where you came from helps you make decisions about where you’re going,” Evensen said. “So, it’s not only about getting people involved, but it’s about preserving the history of the building, the history of the campus.”